The Pearl
by ilovetvalot
Summary: Sometimes all a man had to do was find the hidden pearl. JJ/Hotch Written for Fortune Cookie Challenge on "Chit Chat on Author's Corner"


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**The Pearl**

_**Fortune Cookie Prompt: The world may be your oyster, but it doesn't mean you'll get its pearl.**_

Adrift.

She'd been cast adrift on a sea that could be described choppy at best.

Damn Will LaMontagne and his silken promises of happily ever after.

She known better. Happily ever after was the fairy tale we told our children to give them a sense of security in a tumultuous world strewn with endless tragedies. It was what we promised them as a prize if they managed to survive the experience called life.

It was the most widely perpetuated fabrication in history.

And she'd been guilty of believing in it. She, who had shunned Barbie and Ken...she, who had turned her nose up at Easy Bake ovens...she, who had beat her dollhouse to death with her brother's baseball bat and said a tornado had ravaged it at the ripe age of five years old...she had bought into the myth.

And now it was official. She hated men.

Well, most men. Her team was exempt from the ferocity of her general contempt for the masculine species.

Shaking her head as she stared out the window of her office, the grey skies matching her current mood, she sighed. She'd already cried all her tears. Oh, not so much for Will. He was a shit. She'd been late to the party on picking up the asshole vibe, but when she'd received the message, it had come through loud and clear. No, it wasn't him she'd cried for, but for the end of the illusion of happiness she'd created for herself...and for her son.

She knew that both she and Henry deserved far better than what they'd gotten. Hell, they hadn't gotten anything from Will. He'd left them both without a backward glance, leaving only an empty bank account and broken dreams in his place.

The money could be replaced...in time. But the dream? That had been forever fractured. Trusting another person with their happiness seemed beyond her scope of capability. Six months may have passed, but that hadn't changed. The feeling had only intensified...her heart hardening a little more with every passing day.

She'd shunned the well placed attempts at fix-ups that Garcia and Prentiss had been determined to thrust on her. The last thing she needed was another life-sucking male to pacify...another baby in need of constant coddling...another...

"JJ? Earth to JJ?" a deep voice finally penetrated the angry haze she'd allowed herself to sink into.

Blinking rapidly, JJ focused on the man standing on the threshold of her office. "H-hotch," she croaked, a guilty flush creeping over her cheeks as she realized she'd been caught daydreaming. "I'm sorry. I guess I was wool-gathering."

"I used to do that a lot after Haley left me," he confided, no judgment evident in his voice.

"I wasn't thinking of Will," JJ denied reflexively, her spine stiffening as she felt his knowing eyes on her, one eyebrow raised in obvious disbelief. Heaving a sigh, JJ's shoulders sagged slightly. "Okay, maybe I was...a little," she admitted softly.

Closing the door behind him, Hotch gestured toward the chair in front of her desk. "May I sit?" he asked perfunctorily, already moving forward.

Yeah, JJ thought tiredly. Like I'll tell the boss no. "Of course," JJ said graciously. "Do we have a case?"

"No." Hotch shook his head. "I just wanted to check on you."

"Why?" JJ asked suspiciously, not quite sure how comfortable was with the notion that her Unit Chief, with his untold number of responsibilities, felt like he needed to check in on his media liaison.

"JJ, it's obvious that you're not exactly happy these days," Hotch replied softly, tempering his voice. "It's understandable."

Paling, JJ sat up straighter in her chair. "You think my personal life is affecting my performance on the job?" she asked stiffly.

"No. Nothing like that," Hotch countered as he shook his head. "It's just...you aren't yourself and I wanted you to know that I understand. Probably better than most of the others."

"Hotch," JJ murmured as she flushed, "I'm not sure..."

"Just give me a couple of minutes, JJ, okay?" Hotch requested gently, holding up his hand. "You know that I don't talk about my personal life. Especially on the job. Maybe I should have; it might have made things easier on me at the time. I don't want you to make my mistakes."

"I never thought you'd made any mistakes, Hotch," JJ said softly. "Your personal life is and was your own business."

"But I think...well, we have more in common than not, JJ. Haley left me in much the same way that Will left you and Henry. There wasn't any warning. There wasn't any time to prepare. One day, she was just gone. The only difference was that she took my son with her."

"I remember," JJ returned faintly, remembering those dark days that had seemed to stretch into eternity for their entire team. "I still think it was unforgiveable."

"I've made my peace with it." Hotch shrugged. "The point is that, at the time, it hurt. It hurt and as a reaction to the pain, I isolated myself. I didn't talk about it. I didn't acknowledge it. I buried it."

"We all have our coping mechanisms," JJ noted, averting her eyes as she realized where he was going with their conversation. Apparently her attempts at hiding her pain had not been as successful as she first thought.

"That's true. But, I regret it now. You...the team...could have made things easier...more bearable...if I'd allowed it. But because of pride, I shut down. I didn't want anyone to see how badly she'd shaken me. And I suspect that you're in much the same position now. I wanted you to know that you can talk to me if you choose, JJ. Even if all I can do is offer you an ear. Sometimes, that's all a person needs," he remarked gently, his dark eyes studying her intently.

"I..." JJ faltered, swallowing. "It's hard," she finally said hesitantly. "I'm a private person, Hotch."

"I know," Hotch acknowledged as he nodded. "It sort of takes one to know one," he stated diplomatically.

Lips twitching, JJ leaned back in her chair, relaxing slightly as she realized that she just might have an ally after all. "Do you ever feel like life is just one endless tragedy after another?" she asked heavily.

"Occasionally. I try to remind myself that the reward is in surviving those moments," Hotch replied philosophically.

"You sound like Reid," JJ chuckled softly, her fingers picking idly at the sleeve of her sweater.

"Sometimes he makes a lot of sense," Hotch shrugged, leaning back in the straight chair. Silent a moment, he said, "My mother used to have this saying. The world may be your oyster, but that doesn't mean you'll always find the pearl. The search for the elusive jewel allows you to know you're alive."

"Your mother sounds like a very wise woman," JJ murmured, staring across her desk at him.

Hotch nodded. "She was. Too bad I didn't realize that while she was here. But, better late than never, right?"

"I suppose so," JJ agreed, her heart softening as she watched Hotch push his hair out of his eyes, the motion endearingly boyish.

"It's late," Hotch noted as he glanced out the darkened window of her office. "Jack is at Jessica's for the night. Would you and Henry like to share a late dinner with me?"

"We'd like that," JJ whispered as she nodded, her heart beating just a little faster at the prospect of dinner with the enigmatic man in front of her.

"I need to grab my briefcase and coat. Meet you by the elevators in ten?" Hotch offered, pleasantly surprised by her relatively easy acceptance.

"Absolutely." JJ nodded again, smiling up at him. "I'll just wrap a few things up here and be right out."

Watching as he rose and walked to the door, Hotch paused to look over his shoulder. "The pearls are out there, JJ. Often they just are hidden underneath layers of sand. But they're there," he said softly before closing the door behind him.

And as she sat in her now silent office, Jennifer Jareau wondered distantly if, perhaps, she'd just accidently stumbled upon that coveted prize.

One thing was certain.

Aaron Hotchner had definitely given her the desire to look.

_**Finis**_

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_**Dedicated to my Hero!**_


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